Minutes of Mosaic Commons General Meeting
October 6, 3:30-6:30pm

Decisions:

When we receive the draft of the P&S agreement we will forward a copy to Jonathan Klein and ask for his time and cost estimate to do a review. We will call for an Urgent Decision based on that information.

Two sections of the Pet Policy passed:

1. Cats:

   We prefer that all cats be kept indoors or in designated enclosures. At initial move-in, members who already have outdoor cats may continue to keep them outdoors. Members are asked to bring these cats indoors at night as much as possible since nighttime is when cats hunt the most. After initial move-in, all new cats added to the community will be kept indoors. Those who feel strongly about outdoor cats may seek an exception for up to 2 cats.

2. Dogs:

   Out of consideration for the safety and comfort of all community members, dogs should either be on a leash, in a fenced-in area, or under the direct control and supervision if their owners at all times. Dog owners are expected to "scoop as they go" when walking their dogs.

Action Items:

Discussion:

1. Opening Activity: Go-around.

Question: "What do you do for work, and what’s your favorite thing about it?"

2. Judy reviewed colored cards and ground rules.

2. Announcements and approval of agenda.

Ken needs to leave early. Agenda approved.

4. Review and approve minutes from previous meeting. Approved with the following amendment: Christie took notes, not Stephanie.

5. Hot Topics: Pet Policy.

Catya modified the written draft during this discussion. See current draft of MC Pet Policy for details.

--Go Around on cats:

Joan–[Secretary spaced out–sorry!]

Ken–I think we should keep in mind that there will always be cats around, even if we don’t having any at all. We don’t own cats, but at any given time there are btwn 1-4 in our back yard.

Marty–Would like to treat all cats the same; does not want to treat new cats differently from old cats.

Greg–Would like to keep as many cats indoors as possible b/c they are big predators.

Roxanne–Fine with either alternative (referring to written draft). Prefers indoors cats wherever possible.

John–Can go with either #1 or 2#; would not support any outdoor enclosures in the cmty.

Judy–Likes #1. Supports environment. Knows it’s difficult to get outdoor cats to turn indoor.

Steph–Neutral, but leans toward allowing current outdoor cats, but not allowing new outdoor cats.

Diana–Likes her outdoor cats the way they are. Worried about the impact of being indoors on her cats.

John–Cats are happier outside; would be sad about banning outdoor cats.

Jen–Can go either way.

Ben–Moved by recent email posts on the environmental impact of cats.

Dave–Feels strongly against expanding the impact of our cmty on the local environment. Very little gain in return for allowing outdoor cats.

Catya–What’s hard for me about this discussion is how willing people are to compromise their values b/c of other people’s opinions. I’m looking to take a compromise position and to limit outdoor cats as much as possible.

San–Supports #1.

Kim–This is hard bc I’ve always had outdoor cats, and feel they are happier outside. It’s hard for me to imagine any cmty that doesn’t have outdoor cats.

Lisa–Supports restricting animals which are not natural in that environment.

Cathy–Favors restricting outdoor cats, esp. bc in her experience cat owners tend to like to own many cats.

Open cat discussion:

Catya–Proposal: (see Catya’s notes): Intent of the cmty is to keep as many cats inside as possible; grandfather already-existing outdoor cats. Individuals may seek exceptions.

Dave–What Cat said. I like Alternate #1.

Joan–I like what Cat said, but would want to modify the wording. It would be a good idea to cap the amount of outdoor cats we have.

Marty–I agree with having a cap on cats per household. But what about the replacement thing? I’m worried about having to get a cat before I move it so it’s grandfathered.

Steph–Torn about the exceptions clause bc it seems to leave it too wide open for me. I think I feel more comfortable with having a cap on each household than I am having this big loophole.

Catya–Adding to proposal: "Those who feel strongly about outdoor cats may seek an exception for up to two cats."

Dave–We need to keep in mind that these rules are not carved in stone. Do we want to create an Exception Team?

John–As guidelines, you can add, you can change things, etc. I would like to think about this conversation as guidelines.

Marty–Abstained from voting bc she feels tension that she needs to process btwn community goals and individual autonomy.

Group processing time…[about 5 minutes]

San–How are you feeling now? I feel like we really need to make a decision now after coming this far. Is there something we can do to make it feel like you’re not in a terrible space coming out of this?

Marty–I need to process this more; I don’t feel like I can vote now.

San–We could call the question after the break. Is that okay?

Marty–Yes.

6. Team/Committee Reports I, Land/Site — Teams

Land Site Team: Kim–We are in the process of drafting a P&S on the Stow property. We are not in feasibility on the Stow property yet. It will be much more pricey than $2500.00 bc no evaluative work has been done on this property. We have extended the feasibility on the Maynard property until October 15^th.

Finance Team: Sarah–Please review the cash call notices carefully. We may need some help with some specific action items that we are going to post. Dwight–David Heimann passed an accountant’s name along to us. We had a great conversation and we have hired him. The good news is that we are in a lot less trouble than we thought in terms of our tax situation.

Conflict Resolution Team: John–Ben will be coordinating this team. (yay!)

Sarah–When do we think the workshop with Jerry will be?

Website Team: Catya–Updated capping Equity membership on the web.

Marketing Team: Working on a full marketing plan and will be circulated when it’s ready.

Ben: We are planning to have a preliminary version of the MC Songbook on Friday.

** BREAK around 5:00 pm

7. And now for something completely different: "Winker" — Kim

8. Process Check-in — Process Observer

Judy–Commends the group in getting through the pet policy process.

Ben–Liked the games from a cmty-building perspective.

Joan–Orange card to Cat for her work on the Cat proposal.

San–We’re going to re-call the cat question. Marty, is there anything you want to say?

Marty–What bothers me about the proposal now is that I’m feeling like the way we’re compromising on this is by putting off the problem into the future. It’s a solution which allows anyone who doesn’t have an outdoor cat to do nothing. What I intended when I suggested the good faith effort was that people acknowledge the environmental impact by asking cat owners to restrict their own cats as much as possible. My card is staying orange bc of that.

Judy–I think people will try to keep cats in at night. We have made several compromises already.

Aygul–Question for Marty–what is your primary concern? I’m confused.

Marty–It seems to me that we’re taking a conflict about outdoor cats and putting it off until the future. If we take the environmental thing seriously, I would like to feel that people are making an effort in the present, not just the future.

Kim–The reason we’re doing this so we can have things in place and allow new folks to know what our priorities are so they can decide if they want to join us. We need to have a framework in place when this type of discussion comes up and we have 4 times as many people.

**The Cat Question was called and passed. (Get wording from Catya).

9. Biography Exercise — Lisa W.

My full name is Lisa Gail Wolf. I’m also known to some people as "Tiger." I’m a teacher and owner of a bead store. I live in a house with housemates/renters. I found out about cohousing through HAI, the Human Awareness Institute. My biggest hope for cohousing is to raise my child with other families in a loving atmosphere. I like to travel, but right now I’m nesting; I also enjoy gardening and bicycling. I rode an AIDS Ride a couple years ago which I am extremely proud of, and then had knee surgury the following year. I’ve been coming to meetings for just over a year now. One thing folks should know about me is that I’m very direct, and I like direct communication from others. I’m am also overworked, and I’m working on changing this.

9.5 Jonathan Klein

Greg updated the group about where we stand with our lawyer. He shared that John would like to be brought into the P&S negotiations on Stow as early as possible so John can be more valuable.

Catya–My understanding is that CR has their lawyer working on it. We need to keep in mind that this agreement is btwn CH and the seller, not us and the seller.

John–Would it make sense for John to review it at the same time we review it?

Marty-Jonathan has expertise in the area of the 40B process and it may be useful for him to get in on negotiations as early as possible bc of that.

Catya–I have concerns about costs and having too many cooks in the kitchen.

Judy & Sarah–We cou ld put a cap on the time he spends on it.

Catya–I feel strongly that if were going to give him a P&S, we need to know in advance how long it will take, and how long it will take to get it back to us. We still don’t have a contract back from him. Until we have a working relationship with him, I feel this is a reasonable request.

Proposal: "When we receive the draft of the P&S agreement we will forward a copy to Jonathan Klein and ask for his time and cost estimate to do a review. We will call for an Urgent Decision based on that information." Passed.

Marty–I’m really nervous that nothing has been signed by the seller yet and I don’t want to delay this even for a couple of days.

11. Treasurer Position Proposal

Proposal: "Only Members can fill the Treasurer role, and only Associate or Members may fill the Bookkeeper and Secretary roles".

Dwight–Having proposed this, and since hearing from others on this, I am feeling less enthusiastic about it.

Catya–The concern we want to get at is that whoever takes the role should take it seriously and take it for an extended period of time, say, 6 months?

Catya–How about if we work into the language that the group needs to come to consensus for the people who fill these positions?

12. Action Items — Marty, Joan

Steph–Can we consider bringing in the Action Items back into the meetings, say, once every other month, to help move the Action Items along?

San–Let’s start an email discussion on that.

13. Team/Committee Reports II

Joan is working on getting us in touch with a grant resource center in Boston.

Catya–Requested a copy of a successfully written grant for a coho group in Washington. It’s going to cost us $10.

14. Review/Establish time, place, agenda items for next meeting and social event.

— General Meetings: 10/20, 11/3, 11/17

— Intro Meetings: 1 0/20, 11/17 (Kim will help out with the November Intro meeting)

— CSH (SOF’s only): in town 10/11-15; group mtg scheduled for Mon 14^th.

Socials (open to All): 10/11 Campfire/Sing-along/Cookout @ Steph & Dwight’s

Sarah will organize a Halloween Social the week after Halloween.

Kim would like to organize a social at Sculpture Park in Lincoln. It’s free! It really is!

Meeting with CSH–Dinner at 6:15. Meeting at 7-9 pm. We need help organizing supper. It would be nice to have childcare. Liz will organize childcare, but will not be there.

Can we go apple picking?

15. Review of Meeting & Closing

Diana–Too noisy. Can we line this gap with our winter coats to cut down on the noise coming through the crack?

John–Compliments group on the process of the pet policy discussion. Liked how people listened to each other.

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Last modified: October 7, 2002